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Author Topic: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group  (Read 213137 times)

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Larry

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #40 on: August 01, 2011, 07:10:40 PM »

Hello Howard, I must say your in the machine..it's getting closer, and congradulations
on your hard work. [If it was hard work??] I still don't know what to think, but your efforts
are manfabulous..MAN AGAINST THE HARD EDGE OF TECHNOLOGY..success!
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siamsa

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #41 on: August 02, 2011, 06:18:14 PM »

It says it was all done with the Roland FR18 with only drums added.
Question 1 ....... Can anybody work out what fingering he was using - ie: Was he using fingering as for a Continental Box
Question 2 ...... Is there a lot of double tracking going on
http://youtu.be/qDOpDF-6LZg
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summerstars

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #42 on: August 02, 2011, 06:29:11 PM »

It says it was all done with the Roland FR18 with only drums added.

Question 2 ...... Is there a lot of double tracking going on
http://youtu.be/qDOpDF-6LZg

Yes it is multi-tracked
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DaveW

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #43 on: August 03, 2011, 08:45:44 PM »

Here's sound only of a tune I've been practicing.  Two different voices and keys.

http://soundcloud.com/howard-mitchell/berwick-rangers

Howard


Another premium performance Thanks Howard
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DaveW

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Steelarts

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #44 on: August 05, 2011, 11:43:52 AM »

I had a go on an FR-18 at Sidmouth last week.  Fantastic bit of kit but it didn't feel as intuitive as a regular box.  This was partly due to hearing nothing from the instrument itself; guitars and basses are fine through an amp but this felt really weird, kind of detached .  Not a problem though and it quickly grew on me.

A couple of questions for you FR-18 owners/players.  Do you really have to be a techy nerd to get the best from it or can any dumb melodeon player (e.g. me) get to grips with all the options?

Secondly, was there a particular reason for buying through Thomann?  The Music Room seem to have a great deal going (and have had for some time now) which is considerably cheaper than their German competitor.  Or is there something I don't know about???
« Last Edit: August 05, 2011, 01:13:10 PM by Steelarts »
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Bill Young

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #45 on: August 05, 2011, 12:28:02 PM »


Do you really have to be a techy nerd to get the best from it or can any dumb melodeon player (e.g. me) get to grips with all the options?

As a previous Roland FR-3sb owner, and having read the FR-18 manual and had a go on one, the answer to the first part of your question is: probably, yes. And to the second part: probably, no.

Any Roland V-accordion is far from intuitive. Close study of the manual is required (and Roland don't make that too easy!). A visit to the Roland V-Accordion Group on Yahoo will show that there is a fair amount of discussion  about how to get the best out of the instruments. This forum seems to be the best place so far for English language discussion of how to set up the FR-18 diatonic V-accordion.
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Huw

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #46 on: August 05, 2011, 08:18:19 PM »

Do you really have to be a techy nerd to get the best from it or can any dumb melodeon player (e.g. me) get to grips with all the options?


I've had mine for about 3 weeks now, and more dumb box player than techy . I have spent several hours most days getting to grips with the Roland every day learning something new, the manual is not the easiest to follow, but trial and error gets you there eventually. Any mistakes can easily be rectified by resets. The more you  learn the better it gets but  getting to grips with all the options could be a long job !
First mistake with the earphones on I thought I was playing silently ,till wife said can't you stop that clacking noise and taping your feet, my answer was also inaudible!
The other revelation was the quality of the amp/pa makes a huge difference to the sound I've tried it through some pretty ropey gear and through good quality theatre systems and would recommend spending a bit more for a better system, any suggestions as to what amp to buy ?
I know that the FR18 is shunned by some purists, and although it can never replace a traditional box in some respects it is capable of so much more in otherways, I wish they had been out 20years ago I might have mastered it by now!
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Steelarts

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #47 on: August 06, 2011, 10:10:31 AM »

Thanks for your interesting replies Bill and Huw.  I must admit to not being a "purist" in anything I do and although I absolutely love acoustic boxes (and the fact they are a complete package so to speak), the FR-18 is an absolute hoot!  Okay, so it's not an air powered free reed box but in my opinion it's no less valid as an instrument as say the electric guitar is.  No, in reality it can't and won't replace the traditional instruments I love, but it can definitely add new avenues for diatonic players to explore!  I think I will end up getting one and just working my way through it like you Huw, why should the techies have all the fun with this one eh?

Re amplification.  I have an old Line 6, 60 watt guitar practice amp.  Would this be okay to use or should I be looking more towards keyboard amps?  Also, if I wanted a laugh and used it for morris would a battery powered busking amp work?  I'm thinking along the lines of the Roland Street Cube,  http://www.gak.co.uk/en/roland-cube-street-red/35441
« Last Edit: August 06, 2011, 10:14:51 AM by Steelarts »
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Anahata

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #48 on: August 06, 2011, 12:35:42 PM »

Re amplification.  I have an old Line 6, 60 watt guitar practice amp.  Would this be okay to use or should I be looking more towards keyboard amps?  Also, if I wanted a laugh and used it for morris would a battery powered busking amp work?  I'm thinking along the lines of the Roland Street Cube,  http://www.gak.co.uk/en/roland-cube-street-red/35441

If the practice amp sounds OK, it's OK  ;)
But if you're looking for a new and better amp, yes, a keyboard amp is the thing to go for as it will be designed to be reasonably accurate and clean, whereas guitar amps intentionally colour and distort the sound, which can work well for  a guitar but less well for other instruments.

There's no reason why a battery powered amp shouldn't work for morris. I've seen a battery powered Peavey used by Dave Holland playing electric fiddle for Gog Magog Molly. Roland is usually a good choice too.
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DaveW

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #49 on: August 06, 2011, 04:02:39 PM »

A couple of questions for you FR-18 owners/players.  Do you really have to be a techy nerd to get the best from it or can any dumb melodeon player (e.g. me) get to grips with all the options?

Secondly, was there a particular reason for buying through Thomann?  The Music Room seem to have a great deal going (and have had for some time now) which is considerably cheaper than their German competitor.  Or is there something I don't know about???
Second answer first - Thomann were cheaper when I bought mine - not now so MusicRoom must be favourite
As for the techy nerd bit - probably not if you are happy to play using the tablatures (virtual instruments) provided. But you ain't gonna get away with not reading the instruction book!
Good luck with it - mine is great fun. It doesn't sound like a nice wooden two row which is a pity but it has other attractions!
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DaveW

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DaveW

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #50 on: August 06, 2011, 05:18:44 PM »

Any Roland V-accordion is far from intuitive. Close study of the manual is required (and Roland don't make that too easy!). A visit to the Roland V-Accordion Group on Yahoo will show that there is a fair amount of discussion  about how to get the best out of the instruments. This forum seems to be the best place so far for English language discussion of how to set up the FR-18 diatonic V-accordion.
Bill
Thanks for this link. It looked good so I signed up. There could be a rush here!
DaveW
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DaveW

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Bill Young

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #51 on: August 06, 2011, 09:13:41 PM »

Hi Dave,
Looking back, I can see that what I said might lack some clarity. By "This forum seems to be the best place so far for English language discussion of how to set up the FR-18 diatonic V-accordion", I meant this section of  the Melodeon.net forum. While the FR-18 has had some mention on the main Roland group on Yahoo, that inevitably contains much more about the non-diatonic models. Still a lot of interesting stuff there, however.

Bill
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Ray Langton

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #52 on: August 14, 2011, 06:12:00 PM »

Bought my Roland Fr18 at Sidmouth and have spent quite a while trying out different things..great fun. However as people have said the manual is not very helpful-nearly 2 pages on how to attach the shoulder straps and a short paragraph for all the important things!
I am using tablature 11 and changing key to A to give ADG layout-couldn't get to grips with the sounds for quite a while until I realised that it was playing an octave below what I would call normal and changed the treble end up an octave. -anyone else found this?

Also when setting parameters there doesn't seem to be an easy way of cancelling them apart from re setting to factory setting or have I missed something? For example when trying to change the bellows curve I hit the button next to it which is the chorus setting-then I couldn't get rid of the rather horrible sound without doing a reset.

With the bellows curve if I've understood it right I've now set mine to 5 or Extra heavy by selecting register 4 and then using the tablature/increase button to get number 5. It seems to be far more responsive now-I have the bellows control valve virtually closed as well.

Back to playing!!!!!!
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DaveW

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #53 on: August 14, 2011, 06:45:15 PM »

I am using tablature 11 and changing key to A to give ADG layout-couldn't get to grips with the sounds for quite a while until I realised that it was playing an octave below what I would call normal and changed the treble end up an octave. -anyone else found this?
With the bellows curve if I've understood it right I've now set mine to 5 or Extra heavy by selecting register 4 and then using the tablature/increase button to get number 5. It seems to be far more responsive now-I have the bellows control valve virtually closed as well.
Ray, you seem to be following a familiar path. Regarding the low octave sound, if you select voices which do not use the bass reed, the sound may become more acceptable (to a finely tuned ear! :D - but probably not to a streb ear  >:E).
Concerning the bellows curve, I have come to a similar conclusion - heavy, with the valve restricted. See Melodeon Mitch's comments above. As for setting parameters - presumably if you reset the offending item to another or the original value this would help. I have used the factory reset option, but this was way back in the beginning, now there might be a lot gets wiped off. Caution seems to be needed with all this complexity. Some pretty odd sounds can be produced - this too was the experience of my mate with an FR7B. A year down the road he sounds good. Two months down the road I sound better - than I did!
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DaveW

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Ray Langton

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #54 on: August 14, 2011, 09:36:25 PM »

The problem was that the all the reeds were an octave lower than they should have been! Sorted now and sounding good. I think that most parameters do have a null setting but I couldn't find one anywhere for the  reverb one. I shall just avoid that button in future.

Haven't saved anything yet as I am working on the principle that I meed to know how I got to whatever the result is before setting up anything into a memory!

Anyone got any favourite sounds? At the moment I am tending more towards the World and Ethnic sounds rather than the folk, but that could be because everything was an octave low-I'll have to go through them all again to see.

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Pete Dunk

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #55 on: August 14, 2011, 10:22:51 PM »

but probably not to a streb ear  >:E).

Dave, you really need to meet up with Brian H from Hartley Morris for Streb excesses!
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DaveW

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #56 on: August 17, 2011, 10:54:17 PM »

Haven't saved anything yet as I am working on the principle that I meed to know how I got to whatever the result is before setting up anything into a memory! Anyone got any favourite sounds? At the moment I am tending more towards the World and Ethnic sounds rather than the folk, but that could be because everything was an octave low-I'll have to go through them all again to see.
Ray, refer to Melodeon Mitch posting above about saving user sets - I didn't know what would be saved so I haven't, except that I have fiddled with several tablatures to get a b/c/c# treble with various arrangements of basses and these I have saved on the stick as RDCK3 and RDCK4; as RDCK1, I saved the original set of twelve tablatures (to avoid the big reset). So that I have 36 sets of tablatures (key arrangments) saved - not all different and only accessible twelve at a time by loading say RDCK3.  
Thinking about your comments on the deep sounds produced with tab 11 and key set a A (to give ADG melodeon) - yes they are low and you probably did the best thing by lifting everything by one actave. What comes to mind is that you may have moved the whole instrument, so that if you play say the organetto single row (tablature 10) in key of C, everything may come out squeaky?
Favourite sounds set2.1 Organetto with 8' and 4' reeds or with 8'8'+ and 4' reeds (bright). diatonic set2.2 with middle reeds. User set 4.2(d-Folk) with two middle reeds - this last one because I like the orchestral sounds that go with the set - same applies to the alpine set 3.1 -I suppose all that means I can't make up my mind  ???
Irish style melodeons tend to be played  up the keyboard compared with the Morris DG or ADG, so that the sounds are less 'gruf'f and don't need the octave shift
« Last Edit: August 17, 2011, 10:57:55 PM by DaveW »
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DaveW

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Lester

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #57 on: August 24, 2011, 10:41:32 AM »



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DaveW

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #58 on: September 09, 2011, 08:55:34 PM »

Here is a good demo - have patience with the man - he does a good job
http://youtu.be/hdRux6DrTVo
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DaveW

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xgx

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Re: Roland fr18 diatonic accordion - user group
« Reply #59 on: September 09, 2011, 09:56:22 PM »

Cheers Dave, that's a good'un
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Graham

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